CND Press Digest: Monday 3rd July 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Friday that he was certain that Russian nuclear weapons deployed in his country would never be used.
• Ukraine said Russia is reducing its presence at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plantnoting that patrols by Russian troops have been scaled back. Workers who have signed contracts with Russia’s nuclear firm have also been told to relocate, preferably to Crimea. This has led President Zelenskiy to suggest that Russia could be planning to provoke a localised explosion at the site and follows recent nuclear disaster drills held by Ukraine last week.  

AUKUS

• Indonesian President Joko Widodo Could a return of Donald Trump to the White House kill off AUKUS? 

Nuclear Testing

• The Mirror with an exclusive on admissions from British defence chiefs that they have no idea how many men were rendered infertile by their Cold War radiation experiments. It comes as one of the veterans of Britain’s nuclear testing – Alfred Trott – died without any family or medal recognising his service. Friends are now trying to track down distant relatives ahead of a memorial service next month.

UK Nuclear Energy

• A Japanese-American nuclear energy champion is seeking to undercut rivals such as Rolls-Royce on the price of its small modular reactors. GE Hitachi is offering to build the mini-reactors (SMRs) for up to 25 percent less than Rolls, which is racing to be the first to deploy the technology at scale commercially as the world attempts to ditch fossil fuels.

Fusion

• World’s Largest Fusion Project Is in Big Trouble, New Documents Reveal. The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is already billions of dollars over budget and decades behind schedule. Not even its leaders can say how much more money and time it will take to complete.

Fukushima

• Japan is set to win approval to discharge more than a million cubic meters of treated water from the Fukushima nuclear disaster site into the Pacific Ocean, a sent customers in South Korea rushing to stockpile salt - leading to a 27 percent increase in its price. The Korean government in response has decided to release about 50 metric tons of salt a day from stocks, at a 20 percent discount from market prices, until 11 July.

Iran Nuclear Deal

• The UK and other European powers are expected to announce plans to breach the 2015 Iran nuclear deal for the first time when they confirm they are not going to lift sanctions on Tehran’s use of missiles this October as required in the agreement.
• Former US Vice-President and Republican nominee hopeful Mike Pence was in Europe this weekend - where he popped up at a rally in Paris hosted by Iranian dissidents. Pence used the opportunity to attack the Biden administration accusing him of “working overtime” to restore the Iran nuclear deal and putting Tehran on the fast track to obtaining nuclear weapons.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament